Doom Eternal Errors & Crashes - Black Screen, Launch Crash

Doom Eternal has just launched, and as it usually goes with new games, loads of people are having issues. Some report crashes, others compain about poor performance, while others still encounter a black screen and nothing else. Some of these problems are easy to solve by using the usual methods, but others are more serious. If you’re having any kind of technical issue with the game, our Doom Eternal errors & crashes guide will list them all, along with possible solutions.

Black screen on launch

There are several things that could be causing this – either your graphics drivers aren’t up to date, your rig doesn’t meet the minimum system requirements, or your antivirus blocking the exe file. If your machine is up to snuff, be sure to make an exception for the game in your antivirus settings, then download the latest GPU drivers – 20.3.1-Beta-Mar6 for AMD and 442.74 for Nvidia. It can also be cause by programs with overlays, like Steam or Discord. Disabling any overlays you might have won’t hurt either way. If none of those help, your only other option is to contact Bethesda support.

Black particles blocking parts of the screen

Some players have complained about black particles obscuring parts of the screen. If you encounter these, your best bet would be disabling depth of field in the options.

Demon gate locked after killing all the demons

We’ev had a couple of instances where we couldn’t progress because a demon gate was closed even after there were no demons left. This happens when demons manage to escape their enclosures. Give them a few minutes – if they don’t return, restart from the previous checkpoint and all will be well.

Cannot alt-tab out of the game

If you’re using the game in fullscrene mode, you can alt-tab out of it only if there’s another window open. Use Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open up task manager and then you’ll be able to alt-tab between it and the game. Also, this helps if your cursor stays stuck outside the game.

Some console players reported being unable to close the game on PS4 or tab away out of it – there’s no solution for this yet, but the developers have been notified and they’re presumably working on a fix.

Game crashes after intro video

A number of PC players reported the game crashing shortly after the intro videos. Of all the possible solutions, the only tow that seem to have some chance of helping is reinstalling the game on your system partition and disabling wi-fi before launch. If neither of those helps, make sure to contact Bethesda support.

We’re going to keep monitoring the situation, and we’ll let you know if we find any more solutions or widespread issues. Stay tuned, and feel free to share any problems or fixes of your own.